Hey guys! It's been a little over a week, and I thought I'd put something new up.
While I've been ahead of myself for a while now, I was actually about eight small chapters into the story before I even began posting it on here, I've just about caught up to my prewritten stuff since I've been adding and changing stuff as I've gone on with the plot. Since I've started it, the chapters have really lengthened and I've played around with different POVs in an attempt to change things up a bit.

This chapter's actually got a sweet place in my heart, mainly because I get to write about other pairings other that Sakura/Syaoran and Tomoyo/Eriol. Don't get me wrong! I adore those kids and all of their awkwardness, but I don't want to come off as being obnoxiously cliche and ignore the other characters that are just as cute. But yeah, Touya and his teasing returns for a short while since I couldn't help myself, and Syaoran and Sakura share a cute moment. (But not too cute, since I don't want to rush them into anything too soon.)

But here's something new! Terada and Rika moment :3
For some reason I've always had a thing for that pairing, even though it should have creeped me out beyond therapy's assistance.
Maybe it has something to do with how innocent their relationship is portrayed.
No disturbing pedo touchy-feely sort of stuff. It's just sort of ... well adorable in my eyes.

So here's to warm and cuddly fluff! Hope you enjoy ;D

"So how did today go, Squirt?"

Sakura rolled her eyes as the sound of her brother's voice rang out of her cell phone in a sing-song fashion. Classes had just ended for the day and as she'd been rifling through her locker to pack her bag for the weekend and prepare herself for cheerleading practice her brother's ringtone had sounded from her bag. "Everything went fine, nothing out of the normal." she replied quickly, not even bothering to keep up with her own words as she worked on finishing her packing. "Well except for getting a new kid and all."

Her eyes widened at the statement. She'd just experienced the fear of her life the day before, had one hell of a nightmare she couldn't remember now (she suspected it had to do with how much it would actually spook her, her brain unconsciously protecting her from all the therapy it would take to bring her back to being 'normal'), and then a new student had appeared in nearly ever one of her classes the day after. Just how suspicious can you be? The second she wrapped her mind around the thought, she knew it couldn't be right. Sure, the new student was a bit awkward and a loner, but he didn't look like the kind of person who would actually put her through all she'd recently been through. He couldn't be.The moment she'd first seen Syaoran Li, Sakura had been sure that he'd lived through some pretty traumatic events. She also sensed that he was just barely holding his facade together. That's why she'd been so quick to talk to him. He couldn't be. The thought repeated itself.

'Expect the unexpected.'Her breath escaped her as she replayed the message in her head again and again, the sense of déjà vu washing over her small frame. Hadn't she just said that recently? Or perhaps she'd heard it?

"Sakura? Hey! You there?" Touya's voice seemed urgent then, and Sakura wondered how long her mind had taken to go over everything.

"Yeah, I'm here. Sorry. My mind went into daze-mode."

The sound of Touya's laughing was heard on the other end and the tiny brunette could just imagine her brother shaking his head at her. She smiled at the sound of it. She looked around her then, noticing that her surroundings had become ominously quiet. The halls had cleared out, and her peers had gone home - quick for their weekend to start. It made her self-conscious, being alone in a deserted hallway. She slammed her locker door shut in a rush, then moved the contents of her bag around, straightening them up a bit.

"I've got to go, Touya. I'm running late because somebody decided to call me and has been distracting me at my locker for the past-" she checked her watch necklace, eyes bulging "ten minutes!"

Her brother laughed again at the sound of her panic, then coughed as he'd attempted to say something but had chuckled again in the same moment. The small cheerleader was not amused. She shot a look down the hall and had been about to make a dash for it down the hall when she caught movement out of the corner of her eye. The new student had just rounded the corner. Oh ducky! This is not good ... what if Touya hears him speak to me? She shuddered at the mental image. He'll charge over here and make the new kid wish he'd never moved to Tomeoda, that's what!

Finally, her brother stopped laughing. Great timing too! She was sure her eyes had narrowed in irritation. "Okay, I'll let you go." He paused. Listening? Could he hear the footsteps near her? "Just make sure to call me if you get another one of those feelings. Even if it isn't as strong, or different. Got it?" His voice had sobered and sounded awkwardly concerned.

"Yeah, yeah. I hear you."

"I'll see you later tonight, Monster."

She huffed. Of all the times for you to forget?She promised herself a nice stomp on his foot the next time she saw him. A quick peek in the direction of the new student told her he was only meters away now. "I'm not coming home tonight, remember? Me and the girls are all going to be over at Tomoyo's."

"Oh." he muttered under his breath, sounding a bit put out. "It's Friday, isn't it? Then I'll see you tomorrow if nothing happens."

"Pray that coach doesn't eat me alive for being this late," she could hear him still faintly laughing when he'd hung up. She pressed the 'end' button on her phone, stashing it in her purse. A faint smile took hold of her lips just as she raised her head, noticing the new student leaning against the lockers beside her.

Sakura swung her bag over her shoulder just before he straitened himself up and spoke. "About what coach said earlier ... " he broke off, sounding a bit unsure of himself.

She smiled wider, then hooked her arm with his while he shot her looks of uncertainty. "Yeah, we better get going. We're late already." she added the last bit happily, suddenly not too concerned with being late to practice. When she caught him looking down to her, his eyes brushing lightly over her features, she felt him relax against her as she led the way down the hall. Laps are so worth this. Her lips curled into another smile at the thought.

Sakura looked down at her cell phone, checking the time while on her water break. Practice had gone by so quickly, she could hardly believe what the electronic clock said. At that moment she received a text. Opening up her phone, she couldn't help but smile.

Blossom,
On my way down from the chorus room. We got released a bit late.
Which means you should be getting out right about now.
I'll meet your cute cheerleading butt down in the locker room.
- Wisdom

Sakura rolled her eyes at the message. Tomoyo and her codenames. She said it was a precaution for if she were to ever lose her phone. Then, at least, no one would know who's phone numbers the ones programed in her phone belonged to. Of course, it all sounded ridiculous when one considered the type of person Tomoyo was. As if she'd ever lose her phone. Still, Sakura played along with the whole thing to amuse her cousin. That and because she was secretly thrilled with the codename thing and the idea of it all. It made her feel important. And she had to admit that hers was one of the most flattering out of all of their friends'.

The auburn-haired girl crossed the field and told her coach how late it had gotten. It had turned out that she hadn't had to do laps after all. She'd only had to mention that her brother had been harrassing her and suddenly the irritated look on her young coach's face had melted away as she fumbled about, asking how her old classmate was doing. Sakura hadn't missed the faint blush that had crept up the woman's cheeks as she spoke of Touya. The coach nodded in response to her report and told her to call the end of practice.

"Alright girls, good practice! Now hit the showers!" Sakura called out loudly, jokingly trying to mimic the way Coach Yasutake spoke to the boy's soccer team as she placed her hands firmly on her hips, finishing it off with a speedy thumbs-up. Giggles escaped the girls as they paced back to the bleachers, grabbing their bags before heading for the school. Naoko and Chiharu rolled their eyes, rather accustom to Sakura's remarks, both picking up their phones while ignoring their captain.

"Look at Meiling, stalking it out over there." Naoko frowned, pointing over the bleachers lined on the other side of the turf. "You'd think she would have gotten the hint that Sora doesn't like her like that." she remarked bitterly, sipping at her water bottle.

Meiling was, in fact, going beyond stalking. The rather pretty, popular girl was strutting back and forth while gabbing loudly to her 'friends'. Sakura laughed, thinking the girl looked oddly similar to a caged animal that had nothing better to do than to look intimidating. The rebel of Meiling's click (complete with a streak of purple in her otherwise flawless mahogany hair), Shina, was holding hands with their leader while the other girl, Haru, was nearly tripping over her own feet in her attempt to keep up with her much taller companions. Sakura noticed that every few steps she made, Meiling would scan the field that the soccer team was playing on, searching for someone. Her rival had that look of determination that she normally reserved for when she was plotting against Sakura, going out of her way to embarrass the captain of the cheerleading squad. Sakura shuddered.

"What makes you think she's watching Sora?" Chiharu asked, already on the phone. "She's been staring creepily after the new kid all day. I bet she's going to try sticking her gross claws into him next. She remarked, before returning to her call. "You are such a liar!" she giggled into the receiver and walked off, leaving her friends behind.

"Send Yamazaki-kun all my love!" Naoko shouted after the blonde in a teasing manner.

Sakura pulled her phone out and sent out a new message, then took off for the building.

Wisdom,
On our way in right now. Have you gotten ahold of Teacher's Pet yet?
- Blossom

Sakura raced into the locker room, dropping her school bag off at the bench in front of her locker as she made her way for the shower, still carrying her toiletries and towel. As she changed out of her clothes in the shower, she heard her phone buzz again. Picking it up, she read the message before she finished stripping herself of the sweaty clothes.

Blossom,
Teacher's going to drop Pet off at the movie store.
We're all going to my house from there. I
put your bag in your locker and I'm on my way back for
the rest of your stuff right now.
- Wisdom

The cheerleader shivered, feeling her cousin's presence. That was one thing about them, they had the ability to know when the other was near. They blamed it on having known each other for so long, though they both knew there was more to it than just that.

"Hand it over." Tomoyo ordered from outside the shower stall. Sakura pushed her stuff under the curtain, careful with her phone.

"Be right out, okay?" Sakura asked, turning on the water.

"I'll be at your locker."

A half hour passed between the end of cheerleading practice and their arrival at the movie store. Sakura ran a hand through her still-damp auburn hair as her friends searched the store for horror flicks. She wanted to crawl in a corner and hide herself, avoiding what was to come. The sound of it made her want to cry. Not that anyone seemed to notice.

Tomoyo was to busy reading every movie's small description that caught her eye, humming to herself in ease. Chiharu was twirling the ends of one of her pigtails round her finger as she scanned the covers of movies, in her own little world. And Naoko was nearly dancing with over-excitement. It took all the strength Sakura could muster up to fight against the urge of strangling her long-time friend.

The petite girl finally let out a sigh. "I'm going to go check out Jesse Tuck, m'kay?" she announced as she crossed to the romance section.

"Sakura, Tuck Everlasting is not a horror movie." Tomoyo rolled her dark blue eyes, having been the only one to catch onto what her cousin was talking about.

"But, Jesse! You know he's freaking GORGEOUS. And what about when Mae hits the guy in the ugly yellow suit with the gun? I was scared!"

"It's a love story. Definitely not a scary movie." The taller girl shook her head, her ebony braid swinging against her back.

"It isn't a love story! That Winnie-slut ended up marrying someone else and dying!" Tomoyo rolled her eyes. Only Sakura could make death sound like it was the own person's fault and comparable to infidelity. Still, Sakura continued in her small rant. "She broke his heart. I mean, who in their right mind would do that? It's Jesse!" Just thinking of the movie had her sage eyes pricking with possible tears.

Tomoyo shook her head again and let out a long breath.

Sakura grumbled something to herself before attempting to think of some other movie that wouldn't scare her pants off her. "What about The Covenant?" The guys in it could certainly distract her from the scary parts of it, and she suspected it fit the 'Terror Night' criteria.

When no other person argued with her suggestion Tomoyo nodded her head and walked her over to where the movie would most-likely be. Not too long after they'd found the movie Rika called them. She was quick to explain that her date with their former teacher, Sensei Terada, had ended later than what she'd expected and that they should go ahead and pick the rest of the movies without her. Naoko hadn't had a problem with it, she bounced about - excited for the night to begin - while Chiharu stepped outside to take a call.

Chiharu Mihara paced back and forth in the video store, self conscious. It had been her idea to watch horror movies in the first place, though she felt out of place in the 'terror section' as the store had dubbed it. Many men that were shopping in that section continued to eye the 5'5" blonde and her friends, and she was positive that they weren't the sort of men she wantedto look at her. Her stomach did summer saults when a suspicious guy about her age, clad in all black to match his greasy and poorly dyed hair approached her. At the last second, her cell phone chimed out a tune and she squeaked in response.

Her eyes flashed from the creepy teenager to her unsuspecting friends, deciding to dash out the exit before the kid had a chance to get his rapist hands on her. "I'll be outside! Yamazaki-kun's on the phone!" she called over her shoulder at the same time she pressed the 'send' button.

"Hey Takashi," she greeted him by his first name, something she only did when no one else was around to hear.

"What's up Chi? How's the movie shopping?" a male voice responded, sounding a bit out of breath.

Did he seriously call me while he was working out? Wait, didn't he just get out of practice when I did? Why the hell would he do that?Chiharu raised a brow and narrowed her hazel eyes, suspicious of what the young man was up to. Still, she couldn't shake the butterflies-in-the-stomach feeling that came to her when she realized he'd called her even while he was busy.

"Oh you know," she shrugged, despite the fact that Yamazaki couldn't see her. "Sakura's ready to wet herself in fright, Tomoyo's happily trying to calm her while picking out a bunch of movies that will inevitably give us all nightmares, and Naoko-chan's having the time of her life. Rika's running late, so she told us to pick out the movies without her. I'm dying to hear about how her date went, though. Oh and I almost got kidnapped and slashed up by this really creepy rapist just before you called me. I think the ringtone I have set as your ID-tone scared him off."

The young man's laugh sounded over the phone. "Sorry to burst your bubble, Chi-chi, but I'm pretty sure 'You Belong With Me' isn't the type of song to scare off people with." He was luckily oblivious as to why it was his tone and not some other person's.

Chiharu pouted at his comment then shot a look through the store's window, making sure the kid wasn't anywhere near hearing-range. You should have seen him, though, Takashi-kun! He has the grossest, longest, and most-terribly dyed black hair and he had chains all over his pants. And he was all in black! I swear I saw him wearing eyeliner. She shuddered at the thought. "If anything's going to scare him, it would be something nice. And there's nothing more full of love and cheery than a Taylor Swift song."

She heard a few beeps and assumed it was from the machine he was working on. "But if that was the case, wouldn't he be terrified of you and not be trying to get to know you a little better?" Yamazaki teased, his breaths having slowed.

The blonde frowned, wrapping the ends of a pigtail around her finger. "Is that supposed to be a backhanded compliment?"

His laugh sounded again and Chiharu would have bet money that her heart-rate had sped up at the sound of it. She was so hopeless for him, and was completely aware of it. No, it wasn't. I was just trying to say that you're really nice.

"Don't toy with me, Yamazaki." she replied through her clenched teeth, trying to ignore the way her heart reacted to his words. "You know I can see through your lies."

"Then you should already know that I'm not lying." Chiharu winced at his chest fallen-sounding reply.

Her mouth opened, but nothing came out of it. Since when had talking to the boy she'd been friends with since kindergarten become so difficult? When that boy moved from the 'friend' catagory to 'love of my life'. The cheerleader blinked. Did I seriously just think that? She shook herself.

"Blondie? You there?"

"Yeah, I'm still here."

"Good." She heard him cough slightly. She smiled, imagining him shuffling his big feet around awkwardly, even while she knew he was probably on the treadmill. "I thought I lost you there for a sec."

"Nope. I just got to thinking about something." Her reply came out a bit muffled, having been nibbling on a nail in her nervousness.

"Oh, so you were spacing out on me?" Yamazaki's tone was back to normal as he faked being hurt by her actions. "Am I that boring to you? Here I save you from being mauled by some freak, and your repayment for it is to just ignore me over the phone?"

Chiharu giggled. That was one of the things that she loved the most about Yamazaki-kun - he was always able to lighten the mood and make her feel better. "I was not spacing!" she screached back in mock anger. "For your information, I was watching the inside of the movie store in fear of my life." she joked back, then stole a peek through the glass again for good measure.

Cue friends with the worst possible timing. She sighed. Her comrades were on their way over to the door, purchases in hand. "I've got to go." Her voice was quiet as she added, "They're on their way out."

"Oh ... okay." The young man sounded just as put out as she felt.

"I'll call you later, though, 'kay?"

"Yeah, sh-sure" his reply came out hurried, his stammering causing her to smile.

"Talk to you then, Takashi-kun!" She closed her phone just as her friends emerged from the store, a wide grin spread across her face.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have kept you for so long. They'll be upset with you, now." His voice was apologetic as he outstretched his hand for hers. Their fingers twined without any thought and she smiled over to him, pushing a curl behind her ear.

"No, they understand. I've already told them that we were running late, so that they could pick out the movies without me." She spoke in a murmur, soft and smooth. He found it similar to a caress. She was always so sure of her friends, believing the best of them and only accepting just that. He thought she was incapable to ever think ill of someone, she had too much of a tender nature to her. He gave her tiny hand a squeeze, wishing he could have more time with her even while they were already rushing to her destination.

"Sometimes I wish that there was nothing holding us back from each other. That we had all the time in the world." He spoke his thought out loud, regretting it almost immediately. She didn't react how he'd expected, though. She simply laid her head against his shoulder and brought her legs up into her seat so that she was situated in a ball.

She let out a sigh before responding. "Me too." The corners of his mouth twitched and he fought back the grin that tried to take hold of his features. Instead, he wrapped his arm around her slender frame.

"You know I meant what I said during dinner. The part about the wedding. You give me a time that you want it to happen and the plans will be made. I'm tired of waiting to have you to myself." He kissed her forehead as he drove, his dark eyes drifting from the road every few seconds to what he considered the most precious being in his life.

She merely nodded and looked out the window, it had grown dark and begun to rain since they'd left the restaurant. She seemed distracted, or was too polite to admit that she didn't want to talk of such a subject. Still, when he pulled up to the curb in front of the movie store she took her time in rising from her position against him and made sure to peck his lips before grabbing her bags. Before she shut the car door behind her, she gave his hand a squeeze and mouthed the three words he longed for her to say out loud.

He watched after her until she closed the door to the black limo that was parked in front of him, knowing it was Tomoyo Daidoji's car and that she was currently being interrogated by her friends. He let out a sigh as the limo was put into drive and gazed after it for long moments after it had sped off. Finally, he grabbed his phone and tapped a few keys before setting it away and driving off in the opposite direction.

Rika heard her phone chime, ringing out the notification for a text message. She smiled.

'I love you too.'

So in my mind, Terada is about the same age Sakura's father was when he first met her mother - if not, younger.
Like I said, I'm a sucker for him and Rika. And I've always been really put out that not many bother mentioning them in their stories; they normally only ever really focus on Sakura/Syaoran Tomoyo/Eriol couplings =/

Chiharu's 'rapist' comments were so fun to write about. Pretty sure many girls can relate to some similar situation having happened to them, where they've felt like some freak's next fetish, and have spazzed at the idea. In honor of Yamazaki's ringtone I named the chapter after Taylor Swift's 'You Belong With Me'. Because with all the fluff, I couldn't resist it. And I also thought it would be nice to do a little twist with the genre's of music I've been mentioning. A little bit of Pop never hurt anyone ;D

So yeah, reviews would be great. Thanks again to my faithful readers who keep coming back and reviewing nearly every chapter (I wish I wasn't tone-deaf and Moonlight919). You two really do make my day with your positive and kind words. Though I have to wonder, is there anyone else out there that I update faithfully for? Meh .

That's all for now.

Till next time,
- jo